The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-04-07
DIR. TALMAGE HOME AGAIN
AFTER PREACHING AND lECTURlNG
IN FIFTEEN DIFFERENT CITIES.

Ar Tx PREHC7iNG ANU LEI OHlN6
IN FIFTEEN DIFFERENT CITIES.
Cordially Greeted by Vast Congrega-
tion, the Eminent Divine Delivers a
Sermon from .he Second Chapter of
Revelations: "a Live Church,
BRooxLYN, April 3.-The Rev T. Dewitt
Talmagc, u. D., has returned from the west,
after an absence of nearly three weeks, i'll
which lie preached and lectured i'll fifteen
cities to immense thronGs. A vast congrega-
was present at the Tabernacle this morning
and joined with fine effect in singing the
hymn which begins:
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run.
DR.. Talnago's subject was "a Live
Church." and his text Revelations ii, 8, 8:
"Unto tho angel of the church in Smyrna
write: These things saith the first and the
last, which was dead ard is alive. j know
thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, but
thou art rich"
Smyrna WAS a great city OF the ancients,
bounded on three sides by mountains. 1t
was tho central emporium of the Levantine
trade. In that prosperous and brilliant city
there was q Christian church established
After it had existed for while it WIS
rocked down by an earthquake. 1t was re-
built Then it was consumed by conilag-
ration that swept over the entire city. That
church went through fire, and trouble, and
disaster, but kept on to great spiritual pros
perity. Tho fact was that church had the
grace of God, All over active principle. Had
it been otherwise, all the grandeur of archi-
tecturo and all the ponp of surroundings
would only have been the ornament of death
the garlands of u coffin, the plumes Of
hearse.
1t may be profitable to consider what are
the clements OF 1.-Two church.
remark, in the first place, that one char
acteristic Of such q church is punctuality in
meeting its engagements All ecclesiastical
institutions havo financial relations, and they
ought to meet their obligations just as GER
tainly as men meet their obligations at the
bank When church Of God is not as faith
ful in its promises as the Bank OF England
it ceases to be church of God. 1t ought to
be understood that prayers cannot paint
church, ana prayers cannot pay the winters
coal bill, and prayers cannot meet the insur-
ance, and that, while prayers can do a thou
sand things, there are q thousand things that
prayers cannot do. Prayer for any particu-
lar church will never reach heaven high I'M
less it goes down pocket deep. In my church
at tho west there was man of comfortable
means, who used to pray for his pastor In
such elongated style that he became
nuisance to the prayer meeting; asking God,
in n prayer that was almost without ceasing,
TINT the pastor might be blessed in his basket
and in his store, while the fact was he never
paid anything. If wo pray for the advance
Inent of the church and do not out of our
means contribute to its advancement, our
prayer is only mockery. Let the church or
God then meet its obligations on the outside,
and LET tho members of the congregation
meet the obligations on the inside, and the
church will be financially prosperous.
Let me say, also, that there must be pune
Auaity i'll the attendance on the house OF the
Lord. If the service begins at 1880 i'll the
morning, the regular congregation of live
church will not come at l0:45 II the service
isto begin Mt 1880 in the evening, the regular
CONGREGATION of live church will not come
ot 7.l5 In some churches | have noticed the
,i.onle are always tardy. There are some
neopIe who are always late. They were born
too late. and the probability is they will die
too late The rustling of dresses up the aisle,
and the sIamming of doors, and the treadipS
OF heavy feet, is poor inspiration for minis
. ter 1t requires great abstraction III
7,astors mind to proceed with the prelimin-
ary exercises of the church when one-ha!f OF
the audience seated are looking around to see
the other half come in. Such a difference OF
attendance upon the house Of God may be
difference of time pieces, but the i've church
of which am speaking ought to go by rail
road tinJe, ard that is pretty well understood
in all our communities There is one hymn
that ought to be sung in great many Chris
tiau families on Sabbath morning: early,
my God, without delay, haste to seek thy
place"
Another characteristic of live church is
the fact that all the people participate in the
exercises a stranger can tell by the way the
6rst tune starts whether there is any life
there A church that does not sing is dead
church. It is awful to find cold drizZle of
music coming down from the organ loft
while all the people beneath sit in silence.
when tune wanders around, lonely and un-
befriended and is finally lost amid the arches
because the people do not join in it, there is
not much melody made unto the Lord. In
heaven they all sing, though some there cam
not sing half as well us others. The Metho-
dist church has sung all around the world and
gone from conquest to conquest. among other
things, because it is a singing church; and
any Christian church organization that with
enthusiasm performs this part of its duty
church of God that can sing can do anything
that ought to be done. We go forth into this
holy war with the Bible in one hand and a
HYMN book in the other. OH ye who used to
sipa. the praises of the Lord and have got out
of the habit, take your harps down from the
willows. ] am glad to know that, as a
church, we are making advancement in this
respect When | came to be your pastor we
had an excellent choir In the little chapel, and
they sang very sweety to us Sabbath by
sabbath. but ever and anon there was
trouble, for you know that the choirs in the
United States are the Waterloos where the
great battles go on. One Sunday they will
sing like angels, and the next Sunday they
will he mad and will not sing at all We re-
solved to settle all the difficulties and have
one slkillful man at the organ and ono man to
40 the work of a precentor; and now, from
Sabbath to Sabbath. tine song comes up like
the voice of mighty thunderings.
let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God;
But children of the heavenly king
Should speak their joys abroad.
On the way 10 triumph that never ends
and measures that never die-sing
Another characteristic of q live church il
n nonrisLinr Sabbath school. 1t is too late
in the history of the Christian church tC
aryue the benefit of such an institution. Th'
Sabbath school is not supplement to thu
church; it is its right arm. But you say
there are dead churches that have Sabbath
schools Yes, but the Sabbath schools arr
dead, too 1t is dead mother holding II
her arms dead child. But when superln
tendent, and teachers. and scholars come oi
Sabbath afternoon together, their faces gov
ing with interest and enthusiasm, au'l tSel
songs are heard all through the exer .ssF Hn'
at the close they so away feeling tdoy Aav
been on the Mount of Transiiguration--tha
is live school, and it is characteristic OF
live church. There is only one thing l hav
against the Sabbath schools of this country
and that is, they are too respectable. w
gather iI4to our schools the children of the re
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